Core Module Information
Module title: American Outlaws: Modern American writing

SCQF level: 08:
SCQF credit value: 20.00
ECTS credit value: 10

Module code: CLP08117
Module leader: Scott Lyall
School School of Arts and Creative Industries
Subject area group: Media and Humanities
Prerequisites

There are no pre-requisites for this module to be added

Description of module content:

We have come to imagine the United States of America as central to Western power, capitalism and cultural imperialism. Yet some notable American writers of the past century rebelled against many of the hegemonic norms central to a traditional reading of American society and identity; indeed, they attempted to subvert the American Dream itself. On this module you will examine the challenges to convention, capitalism, white power, and established morality in modern American writing throughout the course of the twentieth century. You will analyse representative short stories in twentieth-century American writing, particularly looking at the influence of Sherwood Anderson?s Winesburg, Ohio on subsequent American and world literature; you will study American Modernism in the shape of Gertrude Stein?s work, and exilic American writing of the 1930s, focussing on the controversial sexual politics of Henry Miller; you will look broadly at the Harlem Renaissance, especially in the work of Zora Neale Hurston; you will examine the Southern Gothic in Carson McCullers?s The Ballad of the Sad Café; you will study the influential Beat movement through the lens of Jack Kerouac?s highly popular novel On the Road; and the module will conclude with you reading Bret Easton Ellis?s novel American Psycho as modern American political satire.

Learning Outcomes for module:

Upon completion of this module you will be able to

LO1: you will articulate a well-argued understanding of the diverse nature of twentieth-century American writing

LO2: you will understand modern American writing in its historical and cultural contexts

LO3: you will explain the importance of the concept of the outlaw in modern American writing

LO4: you will evaluate the formal development of writing in America from modernism to postmodernism

Full Details of Teaching and Assessment
2024/5, Trimester 1, In Person, Edinburgh Napier University
VIEW FULL DETAILS
Occurrence: 001
Primary mode of delivery: In Person
Location of delivery: MERCHISTON
Partner: Edinburgh Napier University
Member of staff responsible for delivering module: Scott Lyall
Module Organiser:


Student Activity (Notional Equivalent Study Hours (NESH))
Mode of activityLearning & Teaching ActivityNESH (Study Hours)NESH Description
Face To Face Lecture 20 LECTURE
Online Guided independent study 170 Guided independent study
Face To Face Tutorial 10 TUTORIAL
Total Study Hours200
Expected Total Study Hours for Module200


Assessment
Type of Assessment Weighting % LOs covered Week due Length in Hours/Words Description
Essay 40 2~3~4 Week 6 , WORDS= 1500 You will do an essay based on aspects of a particular text chosen by you from a shortlist of questions.
Essay 60 1~2~3~4 Exam Period , WORDS= 2000 you will undertake a study of a particular theoretical and/or cultural issue with reference to a range of texts and readings. The topic will be chosen by you from a shortlist.
Component 1 subtotal: 40
Component 2 subtotal: 60
Module subtotal: 100

Indicative References and Reading List - URL:
CLP08117 American Outlaws: Modern American writing